“The Old Lady” Gets Style by INSTUDIO

INSTUDIO design directors Samuel Fleming Lewis and Stephen Kladder were invited to view the exterior and garden surrounding a beautiful Heritage Hill neighborhood home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Their visit was to suggest new exterior paint colors for homeowners who refer to their house as “The Old Lady”. The designers were so taken with the beauty outside of the house they eventually talked their way inside.

True beauty is found beneath the surface. When we find a person attractive it’s a combination of good bone structure, maintenance and style that creates a sense of beauty. When a house has good bones it’s attractive because of a pleasing combination of graceful proportions and details found in each room. The Old Lady remains beautiful at over a hundred years old.

Historic homes require a great deal of restoration. Things you don’t see like updating heating and plumbing systems often replaces interest in interior design. The art collecting couple had unique finds from their travels as accessories; they inherited furniture and had decided early on to collect furnishings from Grand Rapids which was once known as the “Furniture City”. The empty nest pair soon found themselves entertaining their grandchildren rather than their friends. Their beautiful home had become utilitarian.

Days later Samuel and Stephen proposed that they lighten and brighten the underused living and dining rooms to give The Old Lady her style back. Lewis and Kladder searched from basement to attic finding everything they needed to restyle the rooms. In a matter of hours rugs were moved, furniture was re-arranged, art was placed in pleasing new vignettes and the rooms regained their historic beauty. In one day The Old Lady found her inner beauty thanks to INSTUDIO.